


Many Yesterdays Ago and Today

by InnerSpectrum



Series: Mystrade is Our Division Prompts [24]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Facebook: Mystrade is our Division Fic Prompts, Fluff, Mystrade Prompt Challenge, Mystrade is our Division FB Fic Prompts, mystrade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 20:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17535977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnerSpectrum/pseuds/InnerSpectrum
Summary: While on holiday Greg returns to a place from his past and ruminates how he got there.





	Many Yesterdays Ago and Today

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Iolanfg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iolanfg/gifts).
  * Inspired by [La primera boda de Mycroft Holmes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17529251) by [Iolanfg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iolanfg/pseuds/Iolanfg). 



> Written for Mystrade is our Division FB Fic Prompts | Peace

_Many yesterdays ago:_

New Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade leaned against the railing, just one of the many tourist who walked along the Carl Theodor Bridge in Heidelberg, Germany and wondered, not for the first time, how in the hell he wound up there. He ran a hand through his silver hair, making it stand on end as he shook his head in disbelief of the reality that was anything but real that day. It was the very last thing he expected to happen, yet it was very best thing that could have.  

All because of Mycroft Holmes disturbing his peace.

Greg smiled at the thought of über intelligent man. A tall, dark-haired ginger with ice-cold blue eyes – who for the first two years of knowing him, lived up to the cold-fish reputation of being The Iceman. It was something he was known as professionally in his public occupation as a minor governmental official for Crown and Country. Mycroft’s actual occupation? The joke “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you” Greg knew was no laughing matter in Mycroft’s true line of business, so, the less said the better Greg was able to maintain his plausible deniability and we’ll leave it at that. The two men had met every other week for status reports on the mad genius of Mycroft’s younger brother, Sherlock, whose burgeoning career as a consulting detective was the only thing that kept him from his penchant for recreational drug use. Those first two months Greg used to abhor the meetings, but then a grudging respect grew, as Mycroft finally acknowledge Greg’s mutual interest and care for Sherlock’s well-being matched the Iceman's own. That respect slowly grew into a cordial peace in which Greg began to look forward to their meetings and that grew into a something of a friendship between them.

Still, Greg was genuinely surprised that Mycroft thought enough of him to elegantly enlist his help when he needed a partner as cover for a mission in Germany. Elegantly as is he walked in Lestrade's office, took a seat and without preamble "Lestrade. Go home and pack you're my lover in Germany for the next three weeks." 

“You…You want me to do what?”

Greg knew how much the Holmes brothers hated repeating themselves, but he had clearly heard wrong. 

“Take three weeks and be my lover in Germany.” Mycroft repeated between clenched teeth.

To be fair, for the past couple of months or so, Greg had imagined Mycroft saying those words to him. Granted sans the three week limit and the Germany part – though the latter wasn’t a deal breaker. He simply needed to be sure Mycroft had in fact said the words out loud and it was not the subtext of his wishful thinking - again. Now that it was confirmed that his dream man had just unknowingly said those dream words to him - more than less - Greg only had one thought.

“What the bloody hell?!”

“I will not repeat myself - again.” Mycroft shifted a single facial muscle Greg knew to be a frown, the ice in Mycroft's words added veracity in case Greg had plans otherwise – he hadn't.

“Oh, I heard you. I'm just wanting to know what the bloody hell are you on about, Holmes?”

“I have an upcoming mission in Germany. One that requires my personal touch, but one I deem would work better with the illusion of a partner. A _romantic_ partner.”

If the word _romantic_ was ever an expletive, it was the way it rolled off Mycroft Holmes’ tongue. And his expression! Greg may as well had placed a steaming serving of upswallow before the Iceman and handed him a fork. Greg was sure he had seen internet videos of babies tasting lemons for the first time who looked more delighted. Greg inwardly sighed as the peaceful dream bubble popped, for that there was another reason Mycroft was known as The Iceman. Mycroft's distaste for any romantic entanglements was well known. It was another reason why his statement when he entered the office, for it certainly was not a request, had caught Greg so off guard.

“Gregory, I must suffer being lodged in close quarters with another being not of relation to me potentially for a several weeks. I can barely tolerate the intrusion of my own family for little more than the seventy-two hours of enforced joviality that is Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. Can you imagine? Me. Shacked up with some departmental… goldfish? God no! If I must do this – and clearly, I must – the best I can do is align myself with someone who would cause the least affront to my sensibilities. I lament that it seems it would be _you_.”

It took a couple of minutes for Greg to get to the compliment part of that very back-handed compliment, but he got there eventually and accepted the job.

Had you told Greg previously to that conversation he would be in one of the loveliest cities in Germany doing undercover work with Mycroft Holmes, he would have laughed.

In your face.

Heartily.  

In those first two weeks in Germany something had changed. At least it had for Greg. It was the end of his peace as he found he no longer considered the enigmatic man merely a friend. It was a finding that had disturbed the peace of his thoughts in the day and of his dreams at night. A disturbed peace Greg knew was not reciprocated for Mycroft had made his opinions on romantic entanglements – _caring is not an advantage_ – well known. 

Still, here Greg was, undercover as Johan Weber, on holiday with Mycroft Holmes as his antiquities dealer partner.

After the first couple of days of learning each other’s patterns at an up close and personal level, Greg was surprised by how at ease he had become around Mycroft. The only thing more surprising was how quickly Mycroft had become comfortable around him. Comfortable enough that as they sat across the dinner table from their targets, Mycroft took the hand of his partner, Johan, and ran his lips gently over his knuckles. Now _that_ was disturbing the peace.

Mycroft's partner, Johan. Just one more thing Johan Weber wished was the true reality of Greg Lestrade.

Especially, when Mycroft proposed to Johan as part of the cover. They had even taken the extra step of getting rings and registering their documentation as they secretly enjoyed it for the lark it was since Johan Weber did not exist. No harm–no foul, as the American’s say – right?

But didn’t the thoughts of _that_ disturb Greg’s peace while Mycroft worked the final bits of his cover on that last day while Johan toured more of the city. They had spent the last three weeks sleeping together. But it was actual sleep. _So close, but yet so far_ did not even begin the describe the emotional mind field in the mere inches of No Man's Land of space constantly kept between them. Greg made a point of racing to the washroom first for no other reason than to relieve the pressure that greeted him each morning. Because nothing exuded professionalism like the 2x4 - more like 6x8-  he woke with each dawn. It was the prevailing thought that ran through Greg Lestrade’s mind as he stood on the bridge. He and Mycroft had agreed to meet there at half four. Johan was a little early so he waited and thought about the craziness that had become his life.

Greg stopped to take a selfie before the Heidelberg Bridge Monkey. The statue was a popular tourist attraction in Heidelberg. The brochure said if a visitor touched the mirror the monkey held, they will become wealthy. If a visitor touched the mice next to the monkey, they will have many children and if they touched the sign of horns on the monkey’s paw, they will return to Heidelberg.

Greg was a simple hard-working cop, he didn’t care much about money beyond what he needed to live the comfortable life he had. He was okay with not touching the mirror. At the middle age of forty-something, a child or two was an indefinite maybe encroaching toward a definite more no as he got older. Having many children was never a desire of his, so no touching the mice either. Thus, he made a point to touch the sign of horns. He wanted he wanted to return to Heidelberg.

As Greg watched the smooth stride of Mycroft as he approached the bridge Greg vowed then and there he would return to picturesque Heidelberg one day. He would return as himself with Mycroft and the rings they wore would be for real. There was only one way to get that mission started. 

It was Greg Lestrade who then disturbed the peace of Mycroft Holmes when he kissed as his true self and left the Iceman breathless.

_Today:_

“Why do you insist on this?” Mycroft asked amused as their ringed right hands touched the sign of horns on the monkey. Greg wore Johan’s engagement ring on his left hand, but he and Mycroft wore their actual wedding rings on their right hands in homage to the German way of wearing them.

“Because here is where we began to really fall in love all those years ago while on that mission together. I touched the horns and made a vow back then that I would return here as your husband. It took six years, but I made good on that vow when we married and came here for our first anniversary. On that anniversary I touched the horns again and made a vow we would return here on our fifth anniversary.” Greg explained.

“I see.” Mycroft smiled fondly at his husband, “And on this our fifth anniversary I vow we will return for our tenth.”  

“Sounds like a date. Happy Anniversary to us, Mycroft.”

"Happy Anniversary indeed, Gregory.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the delightful one-shot, "La primera boda de Mycroft Holmes/The First Marriage of Mycroft Holmes" gifted to me by Iolanfg. I in turn gift this. (Muse is feeling much better now)


End file.
